The Week In Music: Here Come The Beatles' Sons

This coming October will mark the 50th anniversary of the UK release of "Love Me Do," a catchy little ditty by a quartet that would go on to make music history. Could history be due to repeat itself? It just might, if things like DNA and genes are barometers. In what would be the reboot of all reboots, the sons of the Fab Fourare contemplating forming a new generation version of the Beatles. This new generation Beatles would celebrate the songs of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, featuring a lineup consisting of sons Sean Lennon, James McCartney, Dhani Harrison, and Jason Starkey, all of whom are musicians. Asked about the likelihood of a "Beatles 2.0," James McCartneytold the BBC, "Yeah, hopefully, naturally. I don't know, you'd have to wait and see." McCartney has some experience recording with his dad, contributing guitar to albums such as Flaming Pie and Driving Rain, while Lennon has four solo albums under his belt. Harrison and Starkey also play guitar and drums, respectively. "Sean seemed to be into it, Dhani seemed to be into it. I'd be happy to do it," added McCartney. Happy, indeed. Will the Beatles' offspring go in search of nostalgic glory? Or will they let it be? One thing's for sure, if the Beatles 2.0 decide to move forward, Giles Martin, son of fifth Beatle George Martin, is a shoo-in for the producer chair.

With all of the hype surrounding the rerelease of the 1997 summer blockbuster movie Titanic, who could forget that tear-jerking theme song that made the 194 minutes of the film all the more worthwhile? We're talking, of course, about Celine Dion's GRAMMY-winning Record Of The Year "My Heart Will Go On." While we certainly haven't forgotten it (and can likely sing it in our sleep), there's one person who might like to forget it — Rose DeWitt Bukater aka Kate Winslet. How does the song make her feel? "Like throwing up," Winslet told MTV. "No, I shouldn't say that," she digressed. "No, actually I do feel like throwing up. I wish I could say, 'Oh listen, everybody! It's the Celine Dion song!' But I don't. I just have to sit there, you know, kind of straight-faced with a massive internal eye roll." Why does Winslet hold such disdain for the song? Maybe she fears it'll lead her into another emergency situation with an iceberg.

Cruising on the success of her 2011 No. 1 album Born This Way, Lady Gaga's got a brand-new ride. On April 4 the Fame Monster was seen driving around Beverly Hills, Calif., in a hot new silver Audi R8 GT. While Gaga's new set of wheels has likely been turning heads around town, it's also garnering attraction online. On Twitter, "We love Gaga's new car" has become a trending topic, and social network comments ranged from "I would've had a car accident if I noticed Lady Gaga was driving in the car next to me," to "Is it made of meat too? Cool!" If you want to ride like Gaga, it's going to cost you at least $190,000, but no one ever said living on the edge of glory was cheap.

Calling all social ladies (and men), Beyoncé has taken the social media plunge. On Thursday the GRAMMY winner launched her official Twitter page, and the singer has already amassed an impressive 3.7 million followers. Additionally, this week marked the launch of Beyoncé's new website (warning, the singer's swirling head on the homepage may make you dizzy), and Tumblr page. The Tumblr page is expected to serve as a more personal account of the singer's life. "I am," blogged Beyoncé on the site. "This is my life, today, over the years — through my eyes. My family, my travels, my love. This is where I share with you, this will continue to grow as I do." And welcoming her followers on Twitter, Beyoncé tweeted, "Hey World, It's B! I'm so excited to invite you to my new beyonce.com — we've been working hard, and it's finally ready for you XO." Looks like Beyoncé has grown crazy in love with the Internet.

Speaking of the social sphere, let's see what some of our favorite artists have been up to this week with a check-in at the TWIM Twittertable: @keshasuxx: is it really national Beyonce day? down!! #ifyoulikeitthenyoushouldaputaringonit; @DuffMcKagan: Buenos Noches Costa Rica. Best vacation EVER!! Period.; @justinbieber: smile; @katyperry: Sometimes Jet lag makes me feel like a cross eyed crack head #muststayawake; @BrunoMars: Love Y’all! Dragon out!!! WWWOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!! Those were flames.

The Week In Music: GRAMMY Winners To Invade VMAs

Adele, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga among artists to perform at MTV Video Music Awards

GRAMMYs

Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

GRAMMY.com

As the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards gears up to take place on Aug. 28, there are likely many surprises in store for the show, especially since the network celebrated its 30th birthday this month. But there's one surprise revealed this week that viewers may not have been expecting — the show will go on this year without a dedicated host. Could MTV be taking a page out of the GRAMMY Awards' book by putting on a hostless show, or does the network feel it couldn't match last year's host, comedian Chelsea Handler, who was unexpectedly "impregnated" onstage while hot tubing with the cast of "Jersey Shore"? As the cliché goes, the show must go on, and it will. The show is already chock-full of performances, including GRAMMY winners Beyoncé, Ne-Yo, Adele, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Lil Wayne, among others. Speaking of surprises, the Fame Monster seems to have something up her sleeve. "I'm really very honored and excited to open the show," said Gaga. "But I won't reveal anything; I want it to be a surprise." At the 2010 MTV VMAs, Gaga showed up in a meat dress, and she arrived encased in a large egg at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards in February. What will she do next? "I'm pretty good at knowing what my fans want me to do," said Gaga.

In related Lady Gaga news, the GRAMMY-winning artist is taking a trip to Springfield, Ill., but it's not for a continuation of her Monster Ball tour. Gaga is set to appear in an upcoming episode of "The Simpsons" in a special installment titled "Lisa Goes Gaga," in which Gaga comes to Springfield to save the day after learning the town is suffering from low self-esteem. How does Gaga feel about joining Marge, Homer, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and the rest of the animated cast? "I would say this is one of the coolest things I've ever done," Gaga told Entertainment Weekly. "My dad's probably going to do 80 backflips when the episode comes out." We're sure Gaga will do great, and the episode probably will be one of the coolest things she's ever done, but what will her advice be for the town of Springfield? We can guess she'll probably say, "D'oh, baby, you were born this way."

For some recording artists, scoring a hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 might be considered lucky. It could be argued that those scoring multiple hits are good. But if an artist is really good, they might end up on a list of banned songs. That's where Katy Perry, Take That and Lady Gaga, among others, found themselves upon the release of the China Ministry of Culture's list of 100 banned songs. Gaga's "Judas," which name-drops the apostle who betrayed Jesus, made the offensive grade as did Perry's No. 1 hit "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)," a romp that weaves between "skinny-dipping in the dark" and a "ménage à trios." A peculiar song on the list is Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way," a song ripe with sentiments of innocent love and devotion. Perhaps government officials were offended by this recent Chinese cover on YouTube? If you are fluent in Chinese, you can view the entire list here.

At first glance, crying is probably the most un-metal thing a metal musician or fan could do. But maybe crying will emerge as the hot new trend in metal now that Metallica have shown it's OK to show a more vulnerable side. The GRAMMY-winning metal unit has collaborated with fellow GRAMMY winner Lou Reed for a left-field project, Lulu, which is due Nov. 1. During the recording sessions, the camps were working on a song titled "Junior Dad" and Reed's lyrics sent Metallica vocalist James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett grabbing for the Kleenex. "[He] managed to take out both guitar players in Metallica in one fell swoop with his amazing poetic lyrics," Hammett told UK's Mojo magazine. "I had to run out of the control room, and I found myself standing in the kitchen, sobbing away. James came into the kitchen in the same condition. He was sobbing too. It was insane." The song struck an emotional chord with Hetfield and Hammett due to the former's father abandoning him when he was 13 and the latter still grieving over the recent death of his father. So while there may be no crying in baseball, Metallica have proved that tears are the new metal.

In arguably more startling metal news, with dark chestnuts such as "Tourniquet," "Coma White" and "Death Song" to his name, one would think Marilyn Manson is infatuated with all things gory and gruesome. But in a surprising turnabout, guitarist Dave Navarro has revealed that the Antichrist Superstar is positively frightened by the sight of blood. "It freaked him out," Navarro told Q magazine. "He would get his assistant to put on rubber gloves and clean it up. I thought it was funny to be able to freak out Marilyn Manson." No stranger to a cover song, Manson has put his spin on songs such as AC/DC's "Highway To Hell," Eurhythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" and Soft Cell's "Tainted Love." But we're betting against a cover of the Rolling Stone's "Let It Bleed" anytime soon.

The Week In Music: Britney Spears And Adam Lambert Are Sexy And They Know It

What does it take to become musically rich and famous? While talent and determination (and connections) can all come into play, what about an artist's sexy quotient? While SoundScan doesn't measure an artist's level of attractiveness, and Billboard certainly doesn't have a chart for it, music fans still have their opinions, and they've let those opinions be heard in a recent Billboardpoll tallying music's sexiest men and women of the year. Let's start with the ladies. Katy Perry and her fireworks made the cut at No. 5, behind the only girl in the world Rihanna (No. 4), pop diva Beyoncé (No. 3)and the Fame Monster Lady Gaga (No. 2). Coming in at No. 1 was Britney Spears, who is now clearly a woman, no longer a girl. Making the cut at No. 5 in the men's category was Tokio Hotel frontman Bill Kaulitz, followed by Enrique Iglesias at No. 4 (yes Enrique, we like it), Justin Bieber at No. 3, and Maroon 5's Adam Levine at No. 2. And reigning supreme as the sexiest man in music was Adam Lambert. It looks like Lambert has gone from pop idol to sex idol in true rock star fashion.

Does he believe rap is this influential, or is he really just promoting his movie? Rapper/actor Ice-T said during a visit to the "Today" show to promote his film Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap that hip-hop was responsible for Barack Obama's successful presidential bid. "If it wasn't for rap, white people wouldn't have been so open to vote for somebody like Barack Obama," Ice-T said. "…Hip-hop is what brought us together." He may have a point, but if rap brought Obama to the oval office, it could be argued that classic R&B might help keep him there.

This is a true story of a Lord of the Rings turned Golden God. Lord Of The Rings actor Christopher Lee, who recently turned 90, is celebrating his birthday milestone by putting out his not first, but second heavy metal album. Due later this year, Charlemagne: The Omens Of Death is his follow-up to 2010's Charlemagne: By The Swords And The Coss and is, according to Lee, “100 percent heavy metal.” “I'm not screaming or anything like that, but it is definitely 100 percent heavy metal,” he told BBC Radio 5's “Up All Night.” Lee's entry into the metal world was honored at the 2010 Golden Gods Awards when he received the Spirit of the Hammer award. “I became fascinated by [heavy metal because], in terms of the history of music, it's fairly recent really. And if it's properly done and you can understand the story and you can understand what the people are singing and you have the right bands and the right singers, I think it's rather exciting.” Details on whether Lee's metal music will serve as the soundtrack to the next Lord Of The Rings film were not revealed.

Hello Goodbye. Beatlemania, a Beatles museum that opened in 2009 in Hamburg, Germany, will close by the end of June due to a lack of visitors. Hamburg was the town where a young Beatles honed their skills in the early '60s prior to their assault on England and the rest of the world, and though that story is well known, Hamburg probably still can't compete with the group's original home in Liverpool, England, as the birthplace of true Bealtemania. The Beatles' history in Hamburg dates back approximately 50 years, so we guess the failure of the museum may answer the question whether the city will still love the Beatles when the group's first appearance there turns 64.

To quote their own song, Metallica's James Hetfield may become a "Hero Of The Day." The band's lead singer is helping Virginia state police hunt for a man suspected of murdering 20-year-old Morgan Harrington after she left a Metallica concert in 2009. "Remember, any information — no matter how small you might think it is — could be that crucial piece investigators need to help solve the case," Hetfield says in a video posted on YouTube and an FBI website dedicated to the case. Metallica has added $50,000 to a $100,000 reward offered by the Jefferson County Crime Stoppers for information leading to the suspect's capture. And when he's captured, we hope he gets … And Justice For All.

The Week In Music: "Weird Al" To Go Gaga?

During the week marking the anniversary of Michael Jackson's passing, "Weird Al"Yankovic, whose biggest hit was arguably his Jackson parody "Eat It," told Reuters he's working on a new album that may include a Lady Gaga parody. If past performance is any indication of future results, some possible timely ideas Al may be contemplating: "Botox Face" and "Mc-Mc-McChrystal."

Apparently, no one's hotter than the Beatles this week: not the Bieb, not Katy, not Lady G. Leave it to the band that's pushing 50 to make headlines even on the anniversary week of Jackson's death. First, Paul McCartney told the BBC he had been commissioned to write a ballet, though he knows little about it. "…I just accept things before I even know what I'm doing," Sir Macca said. Meanwhile, John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for "A Day In The Life" sold at an auction on June 18 for $1.2 million. It just missed topping the $1.25 million that hand-scrawled lyrics for "All You Need Is Love" fetched in 2005. (For reasons unknown, the word "fetched" must be used when writing about purchases of collectable auction items.)

The ever fun-loving Katy Perry was left in stitches after her performance at Canada's MuchMusic Video Awards on June 20. Unfortunately they were in her leg, which she reportedly cut open in a fall during post-show nightclub dancing. "17 stitches later... Don't make fun of my dance moves tomorrow," Katy tweeted about the incident. She's now performing in a skin-colored bandage. Here's another look at the "California Gurls" video, shot while Katy was still showing her legs in (and out of) her daisy dukes.

In yet another testament to duct tape's versatility, 14 students from Philadelphia's University of the Arts erected an adhesive-backed polyethylene tribute to guitar god Eddie Van Halen this past week at the 2010 Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival in Avon, Ohio. The students constructed a giant-sized replica of Van Halen's famous "Frankenstrat" guitar using more than 300 rolls of red, black and white duct tape. "I'd pay $25,000 for that!!!" one Van Halen fan wrote at the website Van Halen News Desk, while another expressed concern for the environment by pondering, "Is duct tape a natural resource?"

A few weeks ago we reported that country songstress Faith Hill was thinking of considering a clothing line. Well, with conviction like that, it's no surprise Madonna has beat her to the rack. With daughter Lourdes Leon, Magde will create a young-adult line for Macy's that will launch for the back-to-school shopping season. Early sketches look like a cross between "Papa Don't Preach"-era Madonna and latter-day Lindsey Lohan, if the latter wore clothes.

What else did some of our favorite pop stars actually do this week? Well, according to the TWIM Twittertable: ladygaga: i just kicked my a** in the gym, time to wash it down with an ice cold NY beer; justinbieber: chillin with the boys from stratford before the show tonight. we are like a young entourage. Haha; katyperry: party foul. I swear I've washed my hands. once.; keshasuxx: OKOKOKOK so whos the one who found out tik tok was written about star trek?

Katy Perry's "California Gurls," featuring Snoop Dogg, is once again the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Eminem's "Love The Way You Live," featuring Rihanna, is tops on the iTunes singles chart.

The Week In Music: March Madness

March Madness is here, that captivating time of year when 68 teams set out on the Road to the Final Four in their quest for NCAA men's college basketball supremacy. This year's tournament is scheduled to get underway March 17, with brackets to be announced March 13. However, those wishing to take part in some early madness with a side of musical fun can get a head start with ESPN's Herd Rock Band Bracket, a 64-artist field devised by radio host Colin Cowherd to crown the best rock band. Formal ESPN analysis is still pending, but we'll chime in with a few first-round matchups to keep an eye on. Teen spirit and Kurt Cobain will face off against the head games of Mick Jones when Nirvana and Foreigner clash in the West: Seattle Region. It will be all pinball wizardry and anarchy when the Who and the Sex Pistols battle it out in the East: New York Region. Metal will look to bring the heat against '60s psychedelia as Metallica takes on Jefferson Airplane in the Midwest: Cleveland Region. And shred guitar prowess will duel angst-ridden prog rock as Van Halen and Tool duke it out in the Far East: London region. Upset alert: Though arguably a mismatch on paper, can Scott Stapp and the No. 16-seeded upstart Creed deliver a knockout blow to the Fab Four, the No. 1-seeded Beatles, in the Far East: London region? Fill out your brackets here. Rock's March Madness survivor will be crowned later this month.

The man who went against all odds, fronted Genesis and brought us pop gems such as "Sussudio" is calling it a career. Following an onslaught of speculation on the reasons behind his retirement, Phil Collins surfaced this week to clear the air with "breaking news" on his website. "I'm not stopping because of dodgy reviews or bad treatment in the press," said Collins. "I am stopping so I can be a full-time father to my two young sons on a daily basis." Collins did take the press to task for painting him as "a tormented weirdo…who feels very sorry for himself, and is retiring hurt because of the bad press over the years." An eight-time GRAMMY winner, Collins assured that his retirement decision was a no "straitjacket" required proposition.

If you're a musician with an appetite for rock-solid financial planning from someone who has been there, done that, you're in luck. Former Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan is launching Meridian Rock, a wealth management firm designed to educate musicians about their finances. While McKagan made a name for himself in GNR and the GRAMMY-winning rock band Velvet Revolver, he now fronts his own project, Loaded, and is fully loaded when it comes to financial credibility. After making millions with Axl, Slash and friends, in the '90s McKagan took basic finance courses at Santa Monica Community College in Southern California, and later earned a degree in finance at Seattle University. What type of clients does he think his firm can help? All are welcome, especially those musicians who may be timid. "If they're anything like me when I was 30, they're too embarrassed to ask," said McKagan. "I didn't know what a stock was [or] what a bond was."

With possibly one too many guys trying to touch her junk, Ke$ha has launched a safe-sex campaign. You may file it under just say no way, but the party animal/cannibal has issued 10,000 Ke$ha condoms with her face on them, which will be fired from a canon into the audience at her live shows (fortunately, there's nothing symbolic about that method of distribution). With Ke$ha condoms and a bottle of jack, we should be ready to go until the police shut us down, down.

When's the last time you took a ride down the western country line on a train? Better yet, when's the last time you took that ride with three indie bands? This April, GRAMMY nominees Mumford & Sons will embark on a six-stop tour with Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show. Titled The Railroad Revival Tour, these three bands will take a ride on a 1,500-foot long train featuring 15 vintage railcars pulled by two locomotives and are set to travel more than 2,000 miles across five states. The tour kicks off April 21 in Oakland, Calif., with stops in San Pedro, Calif., (April 22), Chandler, Ariz., (April 23), Marfa, Texas, (April 24), Austin, Texas, (April 26), and New Orleans (April 27). Could the railcar be the new tour bus? With gas prices these days, we're not sure if that'd be less or more costly.

While Lady Gaga was born this way, up-and-coming artist Maria Aragon was just born…10 years ago. After uploading a video of her cover of Gaga's "Born This Way" to YouTube, Aragon was invited onstage to perform a duet with the Lead Monster herself during a March 3 concert in Toronto. "Maria represents what this song is all about," said Gaga before leading into the song. "It's all about the next generation and the future and no more divisiveness, only unity." Let's hope this is a story that inspires future generations of Little Monsters. Don't be a drag, just be a queen.

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